Seasons
by insomniacbookworm
Summary: Now sixteen, Samantha has reconciled with her former neighbor Eddie Ryland for the sake of a party in honor of her grandmother's friend. How long will the truce last before Eddies surely messes everything up?
1. Chapter 1

_Thump_

"Grandmary, I've already practiced the minuet five times now, must I play it again?"

_Thump_

Samantha's eyes flew open. _'All that stress over playing for the party must be coming after me'_, she thought, as the remaining fragments of her dream floated away. She shifted her head to see the clock face lit in a shaft of moonlight. It silently declared the time to be one o'clock in the morning.

One o'clock! Samantha inwardly groaned. How on earth was she supposed to get back to sleep? Her nerves were beginning to reawaken at the thought of the party. If it was truly one o'clock, the that meant the party was…today! She cursed whatever had woken her up.

_Thump_

Samantha jumped. The noise came from the direction of her window. '_Oh_!' she thought, _'I guess it wasn't just my imagination after all._' Slowly, Samantha rolled out of her bed and softly stepped over to the window, carefully avoiding the creaking floorboards. Hesitantly, she pushed back the white crisp curtains (they had just returned from the wash after Grandmary had declared them to be, 'full of more dust and dirt than an African desert'. Apparently, she had a friend who had actually traveled to Africa, and could readily attest to the amount of dust therein), and peered into the midsummer night. There, far below her window, stood Eddie Ryland, Samantha's troublesome, and often infuriating, neighbor. The boy had one foot on the stone walk that wrapped around the house and the other in the garden, nearly trampling Grandmary's poor lilacs.

Samantha moved to open the window, but a movement from below caught her eye. She looked down to see a fat gray pebble flying toward her. It hit the center of the windowpane spot-on.

Quickly, before any more pebbles could come pelting at the glass, Samantha pushed up the window and leaned out into the sweet-smelling midnight air.

"Edward Ryland!" she hissed. It was unlikely anyone in the house was awake, but it was best to stay quiet and keep it that way. "What on earth are you doing knocking on my window at this time of night?"

Eddie, who had been preparing for another wave of flying rocks, dropped the stones on the path and stuffed his hands in his pockets before answering. "I couldn't really sleep. Nerves, I guess," he let out a hoarse laugh. "Imagine, me being nervous for some stupid party."

Samantha smiled at him, but bit her lip to keep from laughing. "So you just thought the best thing to do was to come over here and disturb me from my restful sleep?" She rested her arms on the window ledge.

"Um…" Eddie kicked at the one of the pathway stones. "Honestly, I didn't think you'd be sleeping, from the way you looked at practice yesterday."

Samantha nodded in remembrance. She supposed she had looked a little green yesterday, if her reflection had been anything to count on. "Well, I was. However, now it seems sleep has left me. So, what do you want?"

He looked up at her, a sliver of moonlight cutting across his cheek from between branches. "Do you want to come down? I mean, unless you… erm, don't."

This time Samantha allowed herself a laugh. "Come down? I should like to, but I can't imagine how I'll manage to get through this old house without waking everyone up!"

Eddie shrugged. "You could try the princess method. Tie some rope together, climb down…"

"And land in the arms of my handsome prince, I presume?" Eddie smirked. "I'd rather risk waking the sleeping dragon. I'll come down in a few minutes." Samantha leaned back into her room and, as quietly as possible, pulled the window back down.

Once again, she softly slipped across the floor to pull on a pair on moccasins her Uncle Gard had brought her from New York, and tossed on a violet dressing gown over her white nightdress. Opening her door just enough for her to slip through, she latched it behind her and crept down the hallway to the stairs.

* * *

A/N: Please review! This is not my first story, but the first on this site. I appreciate any and all feedback. Thank you!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: And here (finally) is chapter two! Sorry about the delay, I have the next few parts written out, so they should be quicker in coming. This one is rather short, but the next will be longer to make up for it.

Also, please review!

Do I need to do a disclaimer? I don't own any of these characters, obviously.

_Anyways_, onwards!

* * *

Five minutes after she had shut the window, Samantha came running breathlessly around the side of the house. "You cannot imagine the clutter in the parlor! Excuse me, I mean _decorations_. There is hardly any room to move at all!"

Eddie had taken up pacing the stone walk until Samantha threatened him for stepping on her grandmother's lilacs. "Where if the dancing supposed to be then?" he asked.

"The ballroom," Samantha answered with a flourish and a spin. "It isn't really a ballroom, but that's what everyone is calling it. At least for now. Come next week and it will just be the 'grand dining room' again. Everything has been cleared out for the dancers and musicians."

Eddie groaned. "No, don't remind me about the dancing. I've had quite enough of it to last me a lifetime."

"You're the one who brought it up, Eddie, besides, I've seen you dance. You will be brilli-," Samantha stopped and her gaze shot toward the house.

"What is it?" Eddie peered in the direction she was looking.

"I… I thought I saw a light," she answered, "But I can't see anything now. Maybe we should move around back. If it was Nellie, we'll be alright, but if it's Elsa…." Samantha shuddered. "She still hasn't forgiven me for spilling strawberry jam all over my new dress. Or the mud splattered all over the one before that…" She narrowed her eyes at him.

Eddie pretended to be affronted. "I assure you, madam, I had nothing to do with that. You were simply standing in the wrong place at the entirely wrong time."

Samantha caught his barely concealed smirk. She knew it had been him who'd knocked her and Nellie into a pond the week previous as she and Nellie had been enjoying the sun with her Aunt Cornelia. The blame had fallen on James, one of Eddie's friends who had been visiting for the day.

The pair began walking slowly around the back of the house, treading silently as they neared the copse of trees ringing around the back of the property. Far to the left lay the Ryland's land, while the Willis' property abutted theirs on the other side of the trees. Samantha paused once they were somewhat hidden by the thick trunks and leafy branches, but could still see the back of the house.

Samantha lowered herself down to the ground and leaned back on a tree. "I've been meaning to ask you, is James planning on appearing at the party?"

Eddie leaned back on the tree opposite. "I believe so." He blew out a false, dramatic sigh. "It seems he has, as he put it, 'found the girl of his dreams'. And no, I don't mean you."

Samantha felt a grin spread across her face. "Nellie? Please say it's Nellie, she's been going on and on about him for days."

Eddie sighed, a real one this time. "Yes, he fancies himself in love with the servant girl. I honestly thought he had better taste."

Samantha huffed, greatly offended on behalf of her best friend. "Eddie! How can you say that? Nellie is a wonderful person, and she is not a servant. If James likes her, then he has ten times better taste than you do. And I thought we agreed that you would behave for this party?"

Eddie had the decency to look slightly ashamed of himself. _Perhaps he has changed after all_, pondered Samantha. That is, until a devilish smile bloomed on his face. "The truce merely stated I had to behave at the party, and towards you and anyone of consequence, neither of which are Nellie. So, I can say whatever I want about her."

Samantha glared at him. She really should have thought through the truce just a bit longer so he wouldn't be able to find these stupid loopholes. Why, oh why, did he enjoyed tormenting her so much? She had never done anything to him! Well, actually, she had, but it had been purely in retaliation for whatever he had done! But now, it was a bit unfair to bring Nellie into this. "Nellie is my friend, as are her sisters. If you're going to be pleasant towards me, you are going to have to act that way towards them as well. It's simply an unspoken rule. I thought you would be smart enough to figure that out." She smirked at him. He simply hated it when she insulted his intelligence.

However, instead of bursting out with another come back, he just grumbled, folding his arms across his chest. "Stupid truce."


End file.
